...american television is becoming quickly like japanese television, where reality television has dominated for a bit longer than here...
In the first place, the popularity of certain kinds of entertainment has nothing to do with technology preference. Although I might add that American entertainment taste is fickle and faddish--back in the 70s you had "The Gong Show" and it was *huge*. You also have had various game show formats most of which are "big" for awhile then die off.
And American entertainment moguls borrow from other places all the time--such as the "home makeover" fad that actually came from British TV.
But again, all that is beside the point. Japanese technology marketing mirrors the preferences of the Japanese consumer, and so does American, European, etc. I don't think you can say anyone is "ahead" since everyone pretty much has all the core technologies available through the global marketplace.
...Microsoft blames the lack of sales on Open Source Operating Systems.
I realize you're probably being facetious here, but just in case: Can you point me to where this might be true? The notion that "hordes of Linux users" are threatening MS' domination of the desktop seems rather far-fetched to me.
For your information, you claimed no FACT, you made an ALLEGATION. I realize that to the Left, an allegation is as good as a fact if it supports your agenda, but the real world sees it differently.
Here are FACTS: The huge unemployment you claim is the fault of Wal-Mart does not exist. We are at "full employment" as it has been defined for the last seventy years (i.e. at or less than 5% unemployment--only the "hard-core unemployable" are still sitting around doing nothing).
Meanwhile, the socialist utopias which your type holds up to the rest of us as the ideal, namely the countries of Old Europe, haven't been below 10% unemployment in more than ten years--and in fact, the "richest" of the EU countries, Germany and France, are above 15%, with no let-up in sight.
Okay, so the FACTS show that you are full of shit. Smell it?
When you think about it, it is nothing short of miraculous that movie theaters have survived, and even thrived, as long as they have. I wouldn't have thought they'd make it much longer than drive-ins.
In fact, just after television came on the scene, the film industry was forced to introduce "novelties" like Cinerama, CinemaScope ("Movies Are Better Than Ever!" went 20th Century Fox's ad slogan) and Panavision to counter the "let's just stay home and watch TV!" attitude that was beginning to arise in the early 50s.
Lately, we've seen the advent of stadium seating and of course IMAX. While technically impressive, these latter-day improvements to the motion picture theater experience are really just a continuation of the battle for entertainment consumers' hearts and minds.
Now, with the very-affordable home theater systems available today, and high-density DVD formats about to make their entry, I think it's only a matter of time before theaters begin to die. The cost of transportation, tickets and concessions, not to mention the use of precious time, aren't worth it already to a great many people.
Within ten years, I predict that "new release" will mean a film is now available via subscription service to download to your home theater system, and indoor movie theaters will seem as quaint then as drive-in theaters do now.
I use Google because I like the results it provides.
I use Google as well, but it's more force of habit. In fact, you have to wade through two or three screens of "paid links" before you get to anything non-commercial, in most cases.
For instance, if you're trying to find out something about, say, a particular musician, you first have to wade through a couple of pages of music download sites (mostly off-brand) and at least a page of things like GetLyricsToYourFavoriteSongsNow.com, before you can find anything of actual substance.
When you go to the bank, you'll present your token so they know it's you.
Online banking at Bank of America already uses a "sitekey" token scheme. If you don't see the specific icon that you selected when you first signed up, bail out.
Western RPGs focus on the characters, and the world around them is a tool to let the player-as-character do and see more. Eastern RPGs focus on the events unfolding around the characters, and how the characters affect the world around them.
So what you mean is, "Western RPGs focus on the characters' relating to the word by 'doing and seing more,' and Eastern RPGs focus on the world around the characters and how it is seen and is interacted with by the character."
Wouldn't it be easier to say "Western RPGs are more easily described by active-sense sentences, and Eastern RPGs by passive-sense sentences. Otherwise, they're exactly the same."
Sheesh, I thought we got away from all the groove-speak after 1980.
The market for quality baked goods in this country is essentially non-existent
Whatever. The point is that "the market for quality baked goods" isn't able to be manipulated by you or a million "activists" with bumper stickers and signs.
And that goes for any other market as well. You're just blowin' smoke. Your whining about "lost jobs" sounds pretty thin in a full-employment market.
Contrast that with the "planned economy" of old Europe, where any unemployment rate less than about 12% is cause for celebration among the political elites.
It's hilarious how all your "remedies" are demonstrable failures, and all the "problems" you see amount to the strongest economy on earth.
It's always "through the looking-glass" with you people.
"97% of automobile owners, when asked how they determine if their automobile may need critical service soon, state that they 'see if the car won't start.' In other words, only THREE PERCENT hook it up to an auto engine analyzer!"
Within six miles of my home there are three Wal-Mart supercenters and two Sam's Clubs.
There are also a host of other retail stores, ranging from a Super Target down to innumerable convenience stores. There are five Walgreen's, four CVS, and one Rite-Aid pharmacies.
There are also several "private" pharmacies (including a "compouning" pharmacy), small computer stores, and more "Dollar stores" than I can even count including one humongous "99 Cents Only" store about half the size of a Wal-Mart.
The ONLY store I've seen close because of competition was a Super K-Mart.
This crap-ola about the demise of all these businesses because of Wal-Mart is no more real than any Urban Legend. It's just repeated so often by (and to) the brainless that (to them at least) is SEEMS real.
It's just another leftist rant taken up by people who have never known a day's REAL hardship in their entire brief existence.
I drive down the main boulevard here in my community, and I see Wal-Mart--and a host of other businesses, all happily coexisting. Besides Target, there is Home Depot, Lowes, Radio Shack, Best Buy, and about five grocery stores. AND small "boutique" businesses by the dozens.
I'm sorry, but this argument is the full-of-shite regurgitation of the bumper-sticker-activist crowd.
You have to ignore reality thrice over to come up with "pearls o' wisdom" like that.
(You think they're pearls, but they're actually chunks of nitre from the under the seat of an old country outhouse).
Nintendo has openly said that it will have emulation ability, so that you can play your old games (ie super mario, etc) on the revolution. I see this as the killer app.
I think you nailed it.
While I was reading the first few posts I thought "man, can you imagine not only buying a NEW game system every couple of years in your pursuit of the latest Big Thing, but having to discard all your old game (ah, they were so 2007 anyway) and buy new?"
I mean, the software ain't cheap, and likely represents a bigger outlay than the system itself, for those who are "really into games."
FreeBSD could still beat Linux to the desktop...[but] what's lacking is hardware support (which is even more miserable than linux), and desktop performance...
And no one can possibly predict what the "Wal-Mart" world is going to look like in the future, just as no one could have predicted the "catastrophe" that was sliced bread from factory-like bakers.
Those who even PRETEND to think that economics can be controlled with the likelihood of a desired outcome are just foolish.
Well, almost. If you predict that a state-controlled economy is going to fizzle, you'll be right, every single d*mned time.
Hey, this isn't a "pro-Microsoft" rant, but wouldn't it be just dandy if the courts declared "Heal yourselves!" to the myriad silly and frivolous lawsuitery that is drowning the domestic business environment?
Of course, you'd have LOTS of poor widdle lawyers out of business.
Wal Mart also drives competitors out of business, reducing the diversity of choices in a community.
Have you ever heard the phrase "It's the best thing since sliced bread?"
Do you know the origin?
It comes from the time in the early 20th century, when a "startup company" went into business mass-baking loaves of bread, and PRE-SLICING the loaves, packaging them, and selling them at the grocer.
Although we tend to think of things like this as "progress," in fact there was a GREAT deal of upheaval attached to the advent of "sliced bread."
For one thing, in order for everything to work right in the "mass-baking" process, the large-scale bakeries had to remove a good deal of "quality ingredients" from their recipes. What they wanted was a gluten-free mixture that was uniform in size, shape and consistency--so they wouldn't screw up the bread-slicing machinery.
The old-fashioned neighborhood bakers began to clamor and complain about this new sliced-bread monstrosity. It was putting them out of business, but it was a plainly inferior product!!!
However, the busy housewife in an ever-busier age, began to migrate toward the new-fangled "white bread" product, DESPITE any drawback in quality, because of CONVENIENCE.
Today, you still have lots and lots and lots of "sliced bread" being sold, and yet you still have a persistent market for quality baked goods.
The one does not necessarily preclude the other, IN A FREE SOCIETY.
However, elitist snobs would have that freedom curtailed--"shut down Wal-Mart, only WE know what is best for the average consumer!" Ironic. They're so afraid of a tax-paying, publicly traded entity, and don't mind using the all-crushing power of the government to kill it if possible.
Slashdot Mirror
In the first place, the popularity of certain kinds of entertainment has nothing to do with technology preference. Although I might add that American entertainment taste is fickle and faddish--back in the 70s you had "The Gong Show" and it was *huge*. You also have had various game show formats most of which are "big" for awhile then die off.
And American entertainment moguls borrow from other places all the time--such as the "home makeover" fad that actually came from British TV.
But again, all that is beside the point. Japanese technology marketing mirrors the preferences of the Japanese consumer, and so does American, European, etc. I don't think you can say anyone is "ahead" since everyone pretty much has all the core technologies available through the global marketplace.
It's all market preference.
Can you say "slush?"
No.
It's accepted that Japanese are ahead of anyone else in innovation and acceptance of technology that JAPANESE like to use.
Conversely, we in the U.S. are ahead of everyone else in innovation and acceptance of the technology that WE want to use.
And so forth.
I realize you're probably being facetious here, but just in case: Can you point me to where this might be true? The notion that "hordes of Linux users" are threatening MS' domination of the desktop seems rather far-fetched to me.
Not to mention hilarious.
For your information, you claimed no FACT, you made an ALLEGATION. I realize that to the Left, an allegation is as good as a fact if it supports your agenda, but the real world sees it differently.
Here are FACTS: The huge unemployment you claim is the fault of Wal-Mart does not exist. We are at "full employment" as it has been defined for the last seventy years (i.e. at or less than 5% unemployment--only the "hard-core unemployable" are still sitting around doing nothing).
Meanwhile, the socialist utopias which your type holds up to the rest of us as the ideal, namely the countries of Old Europe, haven't been below 10% unemployment in more than ten years--and in fact, the "richest" of the EU countries, Germany and France, are above 15%, with no let-up in sight.
Okay, so the FACTS show that you are full of shit. Smell it?
Gotta be.
(I wonder if Italian video game scores have SIX or SEVEN zeroes?)
In fact, just after television came on the scene, the film industry was forced to introduce "novelties" like Cinerama, CinemaScope ("Movies Are Better Than Ever!" went 20th Century Fox's ad slogan) and Panavision to counter the "let's just stay home and watch TV!" attitude that was beginning to arise in the early 50s.
Lately, we've seen the advent of stadium seating and of course IMAX. While technically impressive, these latter-day improvements to the motion picture theater experience are really just a continuation of the battle for entertainment consumers' hearts and minds.
Now, with the very-affordable home theater systems available today, and high-density DVD formats about to make their entry, I think it's only a matter of time before theaters begin to die. The cost of transportation, tickets and concessions, not to mention the use of precious time, aren't worth it already to a great many people.
Within ten years, I predict that "new release" will mean a film is now available via subscription service to download to your home theater system, and indoor movie theaters will seem as quaint then as drive-in theaters do now.
I use Google as well, but it's more force of habit. In fact, you have to wade through two or three screens of "paid links" before you get to anything non-commercial, in most cases.
For instance, if you're trying to find out something about, say, a particular musician, you first have to wade through a couple of pages of music download sites (mostly off-brand) and at least a page of things like GetLyricsToYourFavoriteSongsNow.com, before you can find anything of actual substance.
Online banking at Bank of America already uses a "sitekey" token scheme. If you don't see the specific icon that you selected when you first signed up, bail out.
So what you mean is, "Western RPGs focus on the characters' relating to the word by 'doing and seing more,' and Eastern RPGs focus on the world around the characters and how it is seen and is interacted with by the character."
Wouldn't it be easier to say "Western RPGs are more easily described by active-sense sentences, and Eastern RPGs by passive-sense sentences. Otherwise, they're exactly the same."
Sheesh, I thought we got away from all the groove-speak after 1980.
Whatever. The point is that "the market for quality baked goods" isn't able to be manipulated by you or a million "activists" with bumper stickers and signs.
And that goes for any other market as well. You're just blowin' smoke. Your whining about "lost jobs" sounds pretty thin in a full-employment market.
Contrast that with the "planned economy" of old Europe, where any unemployment rate less than about 12% is cause for celebration among the political elites.
It's hilarious how all your "remedies" are demonstrable failures, and all the "problems" you see amount to the strongest economy on earth.
It's always "through the looking-glass" with you people.
"97% of automobile owners, when asked how they determine if their automobile may need critical service soon, state that they 'see if the car won't start.' In other words, only THREE PERCENT hook it up to an auto engine analyzer!"
There are also a host of other retail stores, ranging from a Super Target down to innumerable convenience stores. There are five Walgreen's, four CVS, and one Rite-Aid pharmacies.
There are also several "private" pharmacies (including a "compouning" pharmacy), small computer stores, and more "Dollar stores" than I can even count including one humongous "99 Cents Only" store about half the size of a Wal-Mart.
The ONLY store I've seen close because of competition was a Super K-Mart.
This crap-ola about the demise of all these businesses because of Wal-Mart is no more real than any Urban Legend. It's just repeated so often by (and to) the brainless that (to them at least) is SEEMS real.
It's just another leftist rant taken up by people who have never known a day's REAL hardship in their entire brief existence.
Give me a break.
I drive down the main boulevard here in my community, and I see Wal-Mart--and a host of other businesses, all happily coexisting. Besides Target, there is Home Depot, Lowes, Radio Shack, Best Buy, and about five grocery stores. AND small "boutique" businesses by the dozens.
I'm sorry, but this argument is the full-of-shite regurgitation of the bumper-sticker-activist crowd.
You have to ignore reality thrice over to come up with "pearls o' wisdom" like that.
(You think they're pearls, but they're actually chunks of nitre from the under the seat of an old country outhouse).
Sheesh.
I think you nailed it.
While I was reading the first few posts I thought "man, can you imagine not only buying a NEW game system every couple of years in your pursuit of the latest Big Thing, but having to discard all your old game (ah, they were so 2007 anyway) and buy new?"
I mean, the software ain't cheap, and likely represents a bigger outlay than the system itself, for those who are "really into games."
Talk about new uses for old equipment.
Uh, no. And that's a point, isn't it?
Hm. Wanna run that by me again?
Hey, maybe Apple could get to work on that?
*shudder*
No one forces you to buy at Wal-Mart. No one.
And no one can possibly predict what the "Wal-Mart" world is going to look like in the future, just as no one could have predicted the "catastrophe" that was sliced bread from factory-like bakers.
Those who even PRETEND to think that economics can be controlled with the likelihood of a desired outcome are just foolish.
Well, almost. If you predict that a state-controlled economy is going to fizzle, you'll be right, every single d*mned time.
Hey, this isn't a "pro-Microsoft" rant, but wouldn't it be just dandy if the courts declared "Heal yourselves!" to the myriad silly and frivolous lawsuitery that is drowning the domestic business environment?
Of course, you'd have LOTS of poor widdle lawyers out of business.
But hey, is that REALLY such a bad thing?
Have you ever heard the phrase "It's the best thing since sliced bread?"
Do you know the origin?
It comes from the time in the early 20th century, when a "startup company" went into business mass-baking loaves of bread, and PRE-SLICING the loaves, packaging them, and selling them at the grocer.
Although we tend to think of things like this as "progress," in fact there was a GREAT deal of upheaval attached to the advent of "sliced bread."
For one thing, in order for everything to work right in the "mass-baking" process, the large-scale bakeries had to remove a good deal of "quality ingredients" from their recipes. What they wanted was a gluten-free mixture that was uniform in size, shape and consistency--so they wouldn't screw up the bread-slicing machinery.
The old-fashioned neighborhood bakers began to clamor and complain about this new sliced-bread monstrosity. It was putting them out of business, but it was a plainly inferior product!!!
However, the busy housewife in an ever-busier age, began to migrate toward the new-fangled "white bread" product, DESPITE any drawback in quality, because of CONVENIENCE.
Today, you still have lots and lots and lots of "sliced bread" being sold, and yet you still have a persistent market for quality baked goods.
The one does not necessarily preclude the other, IN A FREE SOCIETY.
However, elitist snobs would have that freedom curtailed--"shut down Wal-Mart, only WE know what is best for the average consumer!" Ironic. They're so afraid of a tax-paying, publicly traded entity, and don't mind using the all-crushing power of the government to kill it if possible.
I've always wondered:
Shouldn't he change his name to "Soyuzworth?"